Acoumeter.



0. J. PILLING. AGOUMETER.

APPLIUATION FILED SEPT. 20, 1910.

1,01 7,795. Patented Feb. 20, 1912.

4 SHEETSSHBET 1.

WITNESSES I I 7 1/122 W Y A TTORNEY 0. J. FILLING.

AOOUMETER. APPLICATION PI LED SEPT. 20, 1910.

1,017,795. Patented Feb. 20; 1912.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2. N

W Y A TTORN E Y -INVENTOR C. J. PILLING. AGOUMETER. APPLICATION FILEDSEPT. 20, 1910.

1,017,795, Patented Feb. 20, 1912.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

ifyi.

INVENTOR WITNESSES O. J. FILLING.

AGOUMETER. APRLIOATION FILED SEPT. 20, 1910 1,01 7,795. Patented Feb.20, 1912.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

A TTORNEY ficationi v within the innercas n 45 sound vibrations thereinactuating. devices extending therefrom .through the fwalls] of p theinner and outer casing and ada by' 1 manual applicatiomgto positively; I

to de ice within the inner casing, win-lag rs -'.to actuate it fromoutsidethe outer easing to vary the degree offlloudness o'r p tch ofexams a. fungus, or PHILADELPHIA, rnnusuvanfa.

I acoumn'rnn."

Specification of Letters Patent.

{ Patented Feb. 20, 1912,

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that 1, CHARLES J. lnmne, acitizen of the United States, residing in the city of Philadelphia,State of Pennsyl- 5 Vania, have invented certain new and useful inAcoumeters, of which the Improvements full, clear, and exactdescripfollowing is a 'tion, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this speci- My inventio'n relates toacoumeters, an instrument ,used' in diagnostic determinations of defectsinhuman hearing, and myinve'ntion has for itsobjects to extend the fieldof mining the acuteness of hearingv in an individual relatively to apredetermined standard, but ofa plurality of individuals at the sametime; also of one ear. and not the other,

of an individual; also as between individuals' tested; .and'in additlonto so extending its field of usefulness, to simplify the in strument andto render it more perfect in operation and accurate in its results pro-wduced.

To these ends invention consists of an instrument of the class recited,comprising elements in structural combination an adapted to be broughtinto co -acting func several results stated, these elements includ- 'inga containing casing preferablys herical and hence of curvilinearfiformor corners or abrupt surfaces; slonorous;meaps adapted to produce.

hat

"said soundroducin means an the soundv vibrations so produced;-fmeans.

' forming a part ofthe outer casing and communicatin'g withtheinner'casing and oper'-- ating. as the -sole; passflga wfiifiherefrogn.for

use of such-instruments not 'onlyin detertional relation, as required,to produce the; .at right angles to Application filed September 20,1910. Serial No. 582,817. 7

pendently rotatable tubular means leading rom said sound-dischargepassage, valvular devices governing said passage-way an adapted. todivert said sound vibrations to either, both or neither of saidrotatabletubular means, for the testing of'the right ear, or left ear, or bothdetachable tubular means whereb both of said rotatable tubularsound-disc arge means or either of them "may be subdivided intoiaplurality of sounddischarge openings to adapt theinstrument to thetesting of 'two or more individuals at thesame time, comparatively,and'for either said sound-vibrations to theexte'rior of the .outercasing; oppositelydisposed and indethe right or. the left ear or both;and finally,

means such asazflexible binaural tubular de-" vice, of any suchcharacter, to operat-ivelyconnect said tubular sound-discharge means orits branches with. the outer ear or ears of the person to-be tested.

In the accompanying, drawings illustrating. my. invention, 'tion of theapparatus, with a binaural soundconveying device attached to. the rightand.

left sound-discharge passages of the instru- Figure 1 is afront-elevament. Fig. 2; is a central vertical section on the line a; mof 1. 3 is a central vertical section of same, on a line the line onwhichFig. 2 is taken, and also on Fig. 4 is a plan view of the device asshown in Fig.3. Fig. '5 is a plan view, looking upward, of the; uppersection of the sepaline 00 :0 of Fig. 4-,, and

rate inner and outer casingsfTig. 6 isa plan view, looking'downward, ofthe'lower sectioniof -the',separate inner and outer casr in'gs', "Fig;'Zis a section of" the sound-regulating valve in the sound-dischargepassage,

on line 2-2 of Fig. 4.; F" 8' is an'elevation of a detachable sound-,discharge ,divided vation, ofsame ,in o'sition onthe instrument; fandFig. *11- 1s a section "Online a: ac

branch; Fig. 9 is plan, Fig. I0 aside ele Re erring new to said drawings1 indi icates the lower hemispherical section-of the utershell -orcasing; .2 its annular flange t top, and 3a basal extension,preferablyiiormed-ywith an annular lip 43in order that the-device as awhole may rest-u 'on a stand 5 with an inter osed sound-dea eni'ngrubber mat 6 or the ikek Cast "within said lower section 1 of thef'outercasing is the lower section 7 of theinnericasing, which may bejsemifglobular, or; as shown, he cylindrical,

mounted on a spring-controlled rod 9 within the lower sec t1on oftheinner casing, in operative relation to the star-shaped mion 11 on theend of a rod 12 which is s eeved in a tubular bearing 14extending-outwardly through the walls of the two casings, the projectingend of the rod 12 being supplied with an actuating disk 13. Within thelower section of the inner casing and in horizontal 15 alinement withthe striking mechanism last described is mounted a sonorous piece ofmet-a1 which may .be in the form'of a bell 15 carried on the end of arod 16 mounted in a movable frame 17, and sounddnsulated therefrom as byrubber'mat 18. Aportion 19 of thewall of lower section 7 is thickenedand slotted at 20 which latter serves as a bearing for the free end-ofbell-sup po'rtingrod 16. Also formed integrally or otherwise with casi'7 is a sleeve'bearing 21 for a rod 22 carrym a cam end 24'adapted onrotating it who] y, or partly, to move the bell 15 and its supportingrod 16 up or down in the slot 20.; such movement bein effected byrotatively moving operatin ro '22 by means of its disk end 23 whichatter.

may have graduation figures on it spaced to indicatethe extent of thevertical adjustment of the bell relatively to' the striker 10. Theuppersectiona'l half 25 of the inner casingcomcides with the lower half7' to com lete the closed sound chamber 8",. and is pre erably castintegral with the u 'per sectional, half. 26 of the outer .casi t e'v'latter being flanged at 27 to coinci e with-{the flange 2 of the lowersection 1,'the two bein detachably united through the flanges by ,meanssuch as thumb screws 28. l The up er section 26 of casing'has averticalextension 29, centrall bored and having an a tured and. anged cap .31 in.both of. w ich v o crates a rotat ble cylindrical T valve '32 w ich, isappropriately slotted; to open and close gcoinmumcation between,"sound-dis charge outlets 33 and 34*or eitherof 4 them with" soundpassage chamber '35: at .base of extension "29. The base ofsaidcha'mb'er 35 isclosedsave by a perforated'wal'l 30 which forms thetop 56 ber 8. o

At r' ht angles to the bored out extension;

29 of t cas and in horizontal aline- -ment with the c amber 33 therein,is cast a sleeve beari 37 with a supporting bracket 39, in which caringismounted a rotatable lug valve38 extending intochamber 35. The innerend of this plug valve islongitudinally sectioned, asat 36 and bearsagainst the perforated wall 30 to open or close communication betweensound chamber 8 of the and both, soun of the inner sound chaminnercasing and sound chamber 35 of the extension 29. The other end ofrotatable plug valve 38 is spirally grooved on its periphery as at 40,to coincide with ribs 42 on the surface of the central opening in anactuating disk 41, which is mounted rot-atably in the aforesaid sleevebearing 37. This disk in addition. to its roughened operating portion43, has a smooth ortion 44 on which may be placed a series 0 numeralsadapted to indicatethe osition of thevalve relatively to the part wh anindex finger 49 is mounted to co-act therewith; It can, however, belocked or set by the means shown in Fig. 7; see also Fig. 4.-

Mounted rotatably in oppositely disposed bearings 47 and 48 tocommunicate with sound outlet ports 33 and 34 are a pair of tubes 45 and46, which are so mounted independently rotatably, in said bearings, inorder to more conveniently use the appara tus, and angularly disposednipples 50 and 51 are mounted fixedly on said tubes, to

which nipples arefremov'ably attached the free ends 52 and 53 of-therubber tubing (see Fig. l) of the binaural device. In order to enabletheoperatoruto test several persons at the same time, comparatively or,otherwise, a supplemental-nipple, having a plurality of discharge 0enings, as indicated in Fig. 8 may be detac ably interposed between thefixcd nipples 50 and '51, or either by slipping. its end 54 over suchnipples connecti the rubber tubings 52 and 54 to the tubu arsound-discharge ends 55.

In'operating the device, the tubular connections bein made with one ormore binau 'ral devices or; either right or left ear or d-vibrations'are created within in-' closed chamber 8 formed'by the inner casing bycontinuous rotation of'the element 14 actuating the striker "and thebell'in turn.

Th latter'is. a justable, as to pitch 'oriloud- I ness, by rotatin theelement 22. I Theicomartia discharge of sounds from pests 1 or v, 7 a llcham r 8 -t0 the sound-outlets is adconsisting of the rename plug 38 andits adjuncts; whilethe'fli alvularjmeans includ sound vibrationsthrougheithertheright or 'theleft discharge ports 33 and 34 and their ing theelement 32 operateitoidischarge the justable to a nicety, byfthevalvulardevic'ej' tubular connections, "or both as may bade-' sired. I,The various operative manipulations of the device, in respect to itsseveral elements,

will be readily understood from the descrip *tion already given, and itis obvious that.

minor cha es may be made in the, several elementsan I in the severalsub-combinations of them without departing fromtheh rinoi I ple of themvention, the novel and c arac-- teristic features thereof being ashereinafter pointed out in the several claims.

Having thus described my invention, I

1 ed therein, means extending wall of said chamber and adapted to be'ac-' vi rations therefrom, an sound discharge ports in "thefw'a'll of.said. Passa e-way claim as new and desire secure byiLetters Patent 1. Inan acoumeter the combination with a casing providing a normally closedsound-' chamber having a concaved perforated area in its'wall, of arotatable valvular device 00 acting with said concavedgerfo'rated areato' progressively uncover sai perforated area, means on said valvulardevice to rotate it from without the casing, a graduated scale 1 on saidvalve-actuatingvmeans to indicate theextent of its operative rotation, atubular passageway communicating directly with said sound chamberthrough said 'valve controlled perforated area, and means tocreatesound-vibrations at will within the casing 2. In an acoumeter thecombination with .a casing roviding a normally closed soundchamber avinga concaved perforated area in its wall, a rotatable-valvular deviceadapt ed to progressively uncover said perforated area, means on saidvalvular device adapted to indicate the extent of its operative pos1-'tion relatively to said perforated area, a tubular passagewaycommunicating, with said sound chamber through said valve-controlledperforated area, a pluralit of. sound-discharge ports in said tubu arpassageway valvular means 'governingall or either 0 saidzdischarge portsat leasure; and means .to create sound vibratlons at will in saidcasing.

3. In an ,acoumeter the combination with a casing providing a'normallyclosed sound chamber, a sound-producing means mounted therein, means toactuate the same at w Ill said means extending through the wall oi:

" said casing and adapted to beaetuated'from without; a tubular passageleading from the apex of said chamber, a valvular device be-' tween saidelements adapted to progress-- ively open'said passageway, a pluralityof sound-discharge ports in vthe wall of said tubular passageway, and acorresponding plurality of sound discharge tubes mounted rotatably insaid ports, with valvular means adapted to independently open or closethe same. 1 4. In an acoumeter the combination with;

a we prbvidinga substantially closed sound 0 amber, of a sonorous bodymountthrough "the tuated from without tointermlttently strike saidsonorous body and produce sound v1- brations within saidchamber,means-to ad 'ust the operativerelation of said sonorous ody and striker,means communicating with I said sound chamber and'constitutin a pas-- sae-way for the dischar e of sai sound 5. In an acoumeter theiconibination65 a casing providingthe sonnd-fchamber, of a a plurality of sonorousbody mounted therein, means extending through the wall of said chamberand adapted to be actuated from without to intermittently strike saidsonorous bodyand pzloduce sound vibrations within said cham-" means toad uSt the o erative relat1on fl of said sonorous body an on said meansto denote. the extent of said adjustment, means constitutinga'passageway for the discharge of sound vibrations from said soundchamber, and aplurality of passage-way.

6. In an acoumeter the combination. of two substantially closed casingsmountedz' one within the :otherin spaced relation, the

inner casing providin' a sound-collecting chamber, a tubular passageleading fromthe apex of said chamber, a valvulardevice between saidelements adapted to progressively open said passageway,

ment, a plurality ,of sound-dischargeports in the wall of said tubularpassageway, other discharge tubes rotatably mounted in sald pprts, and aseries of nipples on,each of said discharge tubes. v I

tion an exterior'ca'sing constructed in separate sections,aninteriorcasing also in separate section's but integral with theexterior casing sections and in spaced relation theretoito form anannular chamber between them,

means within the inner casing adapted to emitsound vibrations therein,means form-' ing a sound discharge passage-way leading from the interiorof the inner casing and through the outer casing, valvular meansgoverning the area of said passage-way',a plurality of ports in the wallthereof and valvular means governing said ports.

' 9. In an acouineter, the combination with a casing providing a soundchamber, an. ex-

terior casing providing an inclosmg air chamber, a sonorous body in saidsound chamber, supporting devices therefor,sound-- betweens'aid body andits means extending through adapted to be" I cause said sonorous body toemit insulating means supporting devices, the walls of said'jpasings andsound vibrations, and' means forming a pas '1 sage leadingjthrough thewalls, of said casstriker, a scale Y sound discharge ports in the wallof said chamber, means to pro" ucdsound-ivibrations V therein-atwill,..a valve-controlled tubular I a casing. providing a normallyclosed. soundr means to lock said" valvular device in any position ofadjustvalvular means governing said ports, sound.

8; An acoumeter comprising in combina- I ing adapted .to discharge saidsound vibra-- thrfih val ar means variably controlling the entions tosuitable flem'ble tubular sound conveying devices.

10. Anacoumetercomprising in'combination anexterion casing composed ofapair of flanged sections, with supporting means therefor, an innersectional casing integral .with the exterior casing spaced relationthereto, said inner casing having an 'interiorly curvilinear wall, de- 1vices adapted to create sound vibrations-Lin said inner casing operatlngas" a SOflIld-dOl lecting chamber, a, tubular passage leading- Icontrollin 'brations t erefrom.

sections, but in the-upper sections of both casings,

trance ofsound-vibrations into said assageway, and other valvular meansa ustably the discharge of Sfild sound vi- Q In testimony whereof, 'Ihave hereunto affixedmy signature this 16th day ofSeptemher, All). 1910.A

i g 1 CHARLES J. FILLING. Witnesses:

ems. W.'Mu.1isn, A. J. SNYDER.

